fair access to professional careers

7/31/2019 Fair Access to Professional Careers

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Fair Access toProfessional Careers

A progress report by the

Independent Reviewer onSocial Mobility and Child Poverty

May 2012


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i

Contents

Foreword and summary 1

Chapter 1 Introduction 9

Chapter 2 Progress in the proessions what has changed since 2009 13

Chapter 3 Progress in the legal proession 31

Chapter 4 Progress in the medical proession 43

Chapter 5 Progress in journalism and the media proessions 51

Chapter 6 Progress in Westminster and Whitehall 57

Chapter 7 Progress made by government onaccess to the proessions 65

Annex A Contributors to the progress reporton Fair Access to Proessional Careers 83

Reerences 85


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1

Foreword and summaryRt. Hon Alan Milburn,Independent Reviewer on Social Mobility and Child Poverty

Three years ago I

reported on what the

UKs proessions were

doing to aid and abet

social mobility in our

country. Unleashing

Aspiration, the

report o the Panel

on Fair Access which

I chaired, made 88

recommendations to

proessions, employers, universities, schools andgovernment. This report documents what has

changed since 2009.

In the intervening three years there has, o

course, been a change o government. But the

commitment to social mobility has remained

constant. The Coalition Government has

published a new strategy on the issue and asked

me, as Independent Reviewer, to report on its

progress. This is my rst report. Shortly I will

publish two others: one on higher education andthe contribution universities are making to social

mobility; and the other an assessment o what

government is doing to tackle child poverty and

enhance social mobility.

This report ocuses on the role o the proessions.

They make an enormous contribution to both the

British economy and our society. Proessions like

medicine and law are characterised by high levels o

integrity and excellence. They are world leaders in

their elds and a source o pride or our country.

Today there are almost 13 million proessionals

in our country. In total 42% o all employment in

the UK is in the proessions. That is set to rise to

46% by 2020. Data quoted in this report suggests

that the proessions have withstood the economic

downturn more robustly than other orms o

employment. I anything, a proessional career is

a surer guarantor o economic security and social

progress than it was even three years ago. And

that will continue into the uture. The proessions

will account or approximately 83% o all new jobs

in Britain in the next decade. They hold the key to

improving social mobility.

The question posed by this report is whether thegrowth in proessional employment is producing a

social mobility dividend or our country. The short

answer is not yet. The report examines what the

proessions and government are doing. It looks at

specic proessions and makes recommendations

or urther action to build on those made in

Unleashing Aspiration to improve social mobility.

This report concludes that without urther and

aster action on the part o the proessions,

government and others, Britain risks squanderingthe social mobility dividend that the growth in

proessional employment oers our country.

Social mobility is about breaking the transmission

o disadvantage rom one generation to the next.

When a society is mobile it gives each individual,

regardless o background, an equal chance o

progressing in terms o income or occupation. The

upsurge in proessional employment in the middle

o the last century created an unparalleled wave o

social mobility in Britain. It created unprecedented

opportunities or millions o women and men.

In the decades since then social mobility has

largely stagnated.


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2 Fair access to proessional careers: A progress report

Over recent years there has been a growing

recognition that a society in which birth not worth

dictates peoples outcomes is not only unair: it

is also unviable. The global nancial crisis and thesubsequent economic turmoil that has aected

countries like the UK have brought these matters

to a head. A broad swathe o public and political

opinion has coalesced around a deep social

concern about rising inequality. A new consensus

has begun to emerge that unearned wealth or a

ew at the top, stagnating incomes or those in the

middle and deepening disadvantage or many at

the bottom is not a sustainable social proposition.

Changing that is a long-term endeavour and it willrequire a genuine national eort. It is not merely

a job or government. O course, government

needs to provide a lead, set an example and create

the ramework or change. But social change is

primarily driven rom below, not above. Families

and communities are the oundation stone.

It is there that aspiration is incubated. Schools

and career services have a key role in nurturing

potential and developing talent. Universities,

colleges and employers i they open their doors

airly can then harness and grow it.

The proessions sit at the heart o this agenda or

change. Three years ago I ound that or all the

eorts that the proessions had made to expand

the pool o talent rom which they recruited, they

had actually become more not less socially

exclusive over time. Unleashing Aspiration ound

that tomorrows proessional is growing up in a

amily richer than seven in ten o all amilies in the

UK. The consequence was that too many able

children rom average income and middle classamilies let alone low-income amilies were

losing out in the race or proessional jobs. At

the top o the proessional tree especially, the

deault setting was to recruit rom ar too narrow

a part o the social spectrum. That closed-shop

mentality was bad or the proessions and bad or

any prospect o improved social mobility in our

country. Unleashing Aspiration argued that much

more had to be done to ensure that all those

with the necessary ability and aptitude got a airer

crack o the whip when it came to realising their

aspirations or a proessional career. The report

uncovered a series o practical barriers that

prevented air access to a proessional career

unocused aspiration-raising programmes, poor

careers advice, lack o school choices, articial

barriers between vocational and academic

education, unair university admissions, limitedwork experience opportunities, non-transparent

internships, antiquated recruitment processes,

inexible entry routes. It recommended action

across the waterront to break down those

barriers in order to make a proessional career

more genuinely meritocratic.

Unleashing Aspiration led to the promise o a new

drive to open up proessional careers to a broader

social mix. Three years on, this report asks what

progress has been made. The answer is not yetenough.

On the positive side o the equation, there is

evidence o a galvanised eort on the part o many

organisations and individuals to engage with the

air access agenda. In particular, many young people

working in the proessions seem to be highly

motivated to encourage successor generations

to aspire to a proessional career. The range and

depth o this activity are to be commended.

Overall the Government has shown goodintentionality when it comes to trying to improve

air access to a proessional career, even though

it is making more progress in some areas than in

others. It needs to be more holistic in its approach

and ensure that its eorts are better co-ordinated.

The Social Mobility Business Compact, however,

is to be commended. We would now like to see

the Government encouraging a broader range o

employers, including smaller rms, to commit to

the criteria o the Compact. It should establish

clear goals and objectives or the programme as

a whole. It should publish an annual update on the

progress o the Compact, and the Social Mobility

and Child Poverty Commission should periodically

review it.

Certain proessions have already made progress.

The civil service is a case in point. In 2009Unleashing Aspiration ound that 45% o Senior

Civil Servants had been privately educated. More

up-to-date research has shown a progressive

change in this pattern. O todays top 200 civil

servants (Directors General and Permanent

Secretaries), 27% were educated at an independent

school. Over one-third (37%) had attended a


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3Foreword and summary

grammar school and 18% had been to a state

comprehensive school. There is a long way to go,

but this is a start.

The civil service is one o several individualproessions that this report looks at specically.

It nds that the legal sector is starting to makereal eorts in addressing air access and social

mobility. In some cases the legal sector is at the

oreront o driving activity aimed at changing

access to proessional jobs, whether this is

through co-ordinated outreach programmes or

by introducing socio-economic data collection.

We commend these eorts and would like to see

other proessions ollowing suit. There is, however,a lot more that needs to be done. The urther up

the proession you go, the more socially exclusive it

becomes. Even more worryingly, entry to the law

and thereore the lawyers o the uture is still too

socially exclusive. Overall, law is on the right track.

But its progress is too slow. It needs to signicantly

accelerate.

Conversely, medicine lags behind other proessionsboth in the ocus and in the priority it accords to

these issues. It has a long way to go when it comesto making access airer, diversiying its workorce

and raising social mobility. There is no sense o

the sort o galvanised eort that the Neuberger

Report induced in law. That is regrettable, not

least because when it comes to both gender and

race, medicine has made impressive progress over

recent years. Its success in recruiting more emale

doctors and doctors rom black and minority

ethnic backgrounds indicates that with the right

level o intentionality the medical proession can

also throw open its doors to a ar broader socialintake than it does at present. The proession itsel

recognises that the skills which modern doctors

require include ar greater understanding o the

social and economic backgrounds o the people

they serve. That is a welcome recognition. It now

needs to be matched by action. Overall, medicine

has made ar too little progress and shown ar too

little interest in the issue o air access. It needs a

step change in approach.

This report nds thatjournalism has shited to agreater degree o social exclusivity than any other

proession. Without a single representative or

regulatory body, responsibility or bringing about

change to the media sector sits with organisations

boards, senior sta, editors, and human resources

teams. Our sense is that current eorts areragmented and lacking in any real vigour.

Journalism, with some honourable exceptions,

does not seem to take the issue o air access

seriously. Where it has ocused on the issue, it

has prioritised race and gender but not socio

economic diversity. That needs to change.

Finally, in politics this report argues that we shouldwant the brightest and the best to be leading

our country, regardless o their background.

But when the major political parties continueto select Parliamentary candidates who are

disproportionately drawn rom better-o

backgrounds, to the exclusion o those rom less

well-o ones, they are limiting that pool o talent

rather than widening it. O the Coalition Cabinet

in May 2010, 59% were educated privately. Some

32% o the nal Cabinet under the previous

Labour Government were also educated privately.

Over recent years, the political parties have made

some progress on selecting women and candidates

rom minority ethnic backgrounds. A similar eortis now needed on their part when it comes to

diversiying the socio-economic backgrounds o

those they select to be their candidates or MPs.

The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission

should look or evidence o that in the lead-up to

the next general election.

Across the proessions as a whole, the glassceiling has been scratched but not broken. The

proessions still lag way behind the social curve.

I anything, the evidence suggests that since 2009,taken as a whole, the proessions despite some

pockets o considerable progress have done too

little to catch up. The general picture seems to be

o mainly minor changes in the social composition

o the proessions. At the top especially, the

proessions remain dominated by a social elite.

For example, this report nds that:

the judiciary remains solidly socially elitist, with15 o the 17 Supreme Court judges and heads

o division all educated at private schools beoregoing on to study at Oxord or Cambridge


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o 38 justices o appeal, 26 attended privateschools, eight attended grammar schools, just

two attended state comprehensive schools and

two were schooled overseas

43% o barristers attended a ee-payingsecondary school, with almost a third going

on to study at Oxbridge

o the countrys top journalists, 54% wereprivately educated, with a third graduating

rom Oxbridge

privately educated MPs comprised 30% o thetotal in 1997 but ater the 2010 election now

comprise 35%, with just 13 private schoolsproviding 10% o all MPs

62% o all members o the House o Lordswere privately educated, with 43% o the total

having attended just 12 private schools.

This is social engineering on a grand scale.

The senior ranks o the proessions are a closed

shop. I social mobility is to become anything

other than a pipedream they will have to open

up. Unortunately, the evidence collected or

this report suggests that there is only, at best,limited progress being made in prising open the

proessions. That is not about to change any time

soon. Data collected or this report indicates that

the next generation o our countrys lawyers,

doctors and journalists are likely to be a mirror

image o previous generations. Data rom 2010/11

on those who succeeded in getting a university

place shows that:

41% o law undergraduates were rom the threehighest socio-economic groups and only 21%came rom the ve lowest groups

49% o journalism students came rom thehighest groups and 14% rom the three lowest

57% o medical students came rom the topgroups and only 7% rom the bottom, with 22%

o all medical and dental undergraduates being

educated at private schools.

Private schools, which educate only 7% o all

pupils, continue to have a stranglehold on ourcountrys top jobs. O course parents should be

ree to send their children to the school o their

choice. Ater all, every parent wants the best or

their children. The problem is that despite the

progress o the last decade there are still too ew

good schools, and the gap between private and

state schools oten remains rustratingly wide. Butit is not just in schools that the sources o Britains

low levels o social mobility can be ound. There

are many contributory actors. It is as much about

amily networks as it is careers advice, individual

aspirations as it is early years education, career

development opportunities as it is university

admissions processes. It is also about the act that

too oten the proessions close their doors to

a wider social spectrum o talent instead o

opening them.

This report nds that by and large the barriers

that were identied in 2009 as posing the biggest

obstacles to more meritocracy in the proessions

have remained intact.

When it comes to raising aspirations among youngpeople or a proessional career there is evidence

o a lot more activity than in 2009. Many employers

are now reaching out to schools and organising

taster sessions or pupils. But co-ordination and

evaluation are lacking. Government has taken actionto help here through a number o policy initiatives

which are welcome steps in the right direction, but

as yet they do not have national scale or punch.

The Government should grow existing initiatives to

match the ambitions set out in Unleashing Aspiration

or a major national drive to raise young peoples

awareness o proessional career opportunities.

A national mentoring scheme is a particular

priority or action.

There has been some progress on reorming

careers services, particularly by devolvingresponsibility to schools, as recommended

in Unleashing Aspiration. These are welcome

developments but there are more steps which the

Government now needs to take. First, although

schools will have a statutory duty to provide

independent, impartial careers guidance or

pupils aged 1416, there is still a question about

whether schools will be able to do this eectively

given that they have no additional unding. The

Government must take all necessary steps toensure that careers advice in schools does not miss

the most disadvantaged pupils. Second, it is critical

that access to independent careers guidance is


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extended to cover 13 year olds. Third, Osted

inspections o schools must routinely consider the

extent to which pupils understand the options and

challenges acing them as they move on to the nextstages o their education, training and employment.

There is a mixed picture on internships. Theevidence suggests that having work experience or

an internship on a CV is even more critical to nding

employment now than it was even three years ago.

Over one-third o this years graduate vacancies will

be lled by applicants who have already worked

or the employer as an undergraduate and, in

some sectors, the proportion increases to 50% or

more. The critical questions are who gets theseopportunities and how do they get them.

There have been welcome developments in

Whitehall, where the Government is ending

inormal internships. All departments will advertise

their existing proessional internship schemes

on a central Whitehall website, with outreach

undertaken to promote internships and work

experience to under-represented groups. Other

sectors have a ar less positive story to tell. In

medicine, or example, work experience is arequirement or entry to medical school but

getting access to it is oten unstructured and

inormal. It is wide open to gaming by those in the

know and indirectly discriminates against those

who are not. We could uncover little systematic

eort on the part o the medical proession to

address this palpable unairness. Similarly, despite

The Speakers Parliamentary Placements Scheme

being among the nest examples we have come

across in any sector, most Parliamentary interns

are still recruited inormally, thus avouring those inthe know and those with connections. Parliament

as a whole must step up to the plate on this issue.

It should be setting a good example not a bad

one or other employers and proessions. That is

not the case at the moment.

But the worst oender is the media industry.

What seems to distinguish journalism rom other

proessions is that interns are substitutes or what

in other sectors would be regarded as unctions

carried out by mainstream paid employees. Thepractice in much o the media industry is more

akin to treating interns as ree labour. The problem

with that is sel-evident. It is possible only or

those who can aord to work or ree. It means

that others perhaps with equal or better claims

on a career in journalism are excluded rom

consideration.Unpaid internships clearly disadvantage those rom

less auent backgrounds who cannot aord to

work or ree or any length o time. They are a

barrier to air access and, indeed, to better social

mobility. It is welcome that the Government

has indicated that employers should go beyond

their legal obligations and pay interns a wage that

reects the value o the interns contribution,

but there is a long way to go beore employers

practices change to reect these policy changes.That will require vigilance and continued eort on

the part o government. It should nd the best way

to kitemark internships or their quality and should

consider innovative means o oering nancial

support to disadvantaged young people wanting to

undertake an internship.

The exponential growth in internships in the

proessions adds up to a proound change in the

British labour market. Access to work experience

is a new hurdle that would-be proessionals nowhave to clear beore they can even get onto the

recruitment playing eld. Given their centrality

to young peoples career prospects, internships

should no longer be treated as part o the inormal

economy. They should be subject to similar rules

to other parts o the labour market. That means

introducing proper, transparent and air processes

or selection and reasonable terms o employment,

including remuneration or internships.

There is a similar uneven picture when it comes

to how the proessions go about selecting andrecruiting their workorces. All too oten thoseprocesses reinorce rather than recongure the

socio-economic make-up o the proessions.

Recruiters end up selecting new people who are

pretty much like the old. Unless airness is more

intentionally embedded into recruitment and

selection procedures then it is unlikely that there

will be anything other than a supercial shit in the

social composition o the proessions. For example,

the UKs leading employers target an average oonly 19 universities or their graduate recruitment

programmes. The overwhelming evidence suggests

that too many proessional employers still recruit


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rom too small a cohort o universities. Since

those universities are the most socially exclusive

in the country, these recruitment practices merely

reinorce the social exclusivity o the proessions.The marginal progress that has been made in the

last ew years to broaden the group o universities

rom which the proessions recruit needs to be

rapidly accelerated i the big growth in proessional

employment, predicted over the next decade, is to

produce a social mobility dividend or Britain.

Similarly, there is uneven recruitment acrossthe UK nations and regions by the proessions.The overwhelming majority o The Times Top

100 Graduate Employers were oering vacanciesin London or 2012 but only 44% in the north

east o England and 41% in East Anglia. It is little

surprise that in the next ew years almost hal

o the growth in jobs in higher-level occupations

will occur in London and the south. Taking these

predictions into account, it seems that regional

disparities in access to a proessional career are

growing and are set to go on doing so. I employers

are genuinely concerned about broadening the

background o their workorces they will need to

show ar greater intentionality in expanding theparts o the UK rom which they recruit.

The same is true when it comes to creating more

exible entry routes into a proessional career.In the 1950s, proessional jobs were open

to a wide variety o people with a range o

qualications. It was possible in a career such as

journalism to work your way rom the bottom,

without a degree, to the top o the proession.

The proessions were socially mobile and, in turn,

contributed to an upsurge in social mobility inthe country. Today it remains important or social

mobility that the proessions, while retaining

the highest standards, nd ways o opening up

opportunities or people at dierent stages o their

lives, rom more exible entry through to career

progression routes.

O course, most proessions will want to recruit

university graduates. Many proessions, however,

have become the exclusive preserve o those

with a minimum o a rst degree, reducing theemployment opportunities or people without

a graduate-level qualication. As qualication

ination continues to take hold even in traditionally

non-graduate proessions like nursing, the danger

is that an exclusive reliance on the graduate labour

market distorts their social intake just as it has

distorted that o other proessions. To ensure thatthere is greater diversity in the proessions there

need to be more diverse entry routes. Thankully

there have been some positive developments here.

In 2009, Unleashing Aspiration reported that only

our o The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

accepted non-graduate entrants. Today, around 50%

oer some orm o non-graduate entry point.

This report argues in conclusion that duringthe last three years the proessions have aced a

challenging and turbulent time. The employmentmarket remains ragile at best. In these

circumstances there is a risk that improving air

access to proessional careers becomes sidelined.

Some o the evidence submitted or this report

indicates that is happening. That is not to say that,

in hearing rom employers, proessional bodies

and regulators, progress is not being made both

by individual employers and by some proessions.

Some organisations have been working to improve

air access or a long time and social mobility has

become an integral part o what they do. It is alsopleasing to see some regulatory bodies, or the

rst time, setting clear objectives on improving

social mobility and oering robust challenge where

progress is not seen to be made. And this report

contains examples o exemplary good practice and

highlights where genuine progress has been made.

There are developments that are to be welcomed.

Many individuals and organisations have put their

shoulders to the wheel and are determined to

continue doing so. Their eorts deserve praise.But the overall picture is ar less positive. To recap:

eorts to raise awareness and aspirations inschools are too sporadic and too unspecic.

They need to become universal and better

co-ordinated

too many employers recruit rom too narrowa range o universities and regions. They need

to widen their net

work experience and internships are still alottery even as they become a key part o theormal proessional labour market. They need

to be treated as such


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selection processes and data collection theoundation stones or making progress are too

haphazard. They need to be given much more

serious attention

entry to the proessions has begun to bediversied but the graduate grip on the labour

market is still strong. There needs to be a

ar bigger drive to open up the proessions

to a wider variety o people with dierent

qualications.

These are signicant areas or improvement. There

is no one proession that can say it has cracked the

air access problem. Indeed, almost no proession

has a clear plan or doing so. Unleashing Aspirationrecommended that each proession should carry

out a review o current practice on air access

with a view to developing practical ideas or

improvement. It urged each proession to report

publicly on these by the end o 2010, with a clear

set o recommendations and an action plan or

implementation. As ar as we are aware, not a

single proession has done so.

This is prooundly disappointing and suggests that,

despite rhetoric to the contrary, all too otenthe reality is that the air access agenda remains

sidelined in most proessions. That is unacceptable

and must change. The proessions should now

consider what steps they need to take. They need

to massively up their game. The Government

should do more to pressurise the proessions to

act. And the new Social Mobility and Child Poverty

Commission should report annually on what, i any,

progress the proessions are making.

I the appropriate action is taken to open up the

proessions to a broader array o talent, Britain can

realise a social mobility dividend rom the growth

we are seeing in proessional jobs. There is everychance that, like the 1950s, the next decade can

be a golden era when it comes to opening up

opportunities in our society. But that will not just

happen. It has to be made. With a genuine national

eort we can break the corrosive correlation

between demography and destiny that so poisons

British society between being born poor and,

in all likelihood, dying poor; between going to a

low-achieving school and so ending up in a low-

achieving job; between missing out on a university

place and so missing out on a proessional career.

This is a prize we must not let slip through our

ngers. Winning it requires ar more eort on

the part o the proessions. And, as my next two

reports will argue, on the part o universities and

government too.

Rt. Hon Alan Milburn, Independent Reviewer on

Social Mobility and Child Poverty

May 2012


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9

Chapter 1

Introduction

This chapter sets out:

The remit o this reportThe long-term growth in proessional employmentThe headline ndings o the 2009 report Unleashing AspirationThe methodology and contents o this report

In August 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister

appointed me as the Independent Reviewer

on Social Mobility. In April 2011, the remit o my

role was expanded to include child poverty, pending

the establishment o a new statutory Social Mobility

and Child Poverty Commission. As Independent

Reviewer, I have been assessing the progress that

both the Government and wider society have been

making in improving social mobility and eliminating

child poverty. This is my rst report.

This report provides an assessment o activity

around air access to proessional careers. It builds

on the work that I led in 2009, when I chaired

the Panel on Fair Access to the Proessions.1 The

Panel was asked to work with the proessions to

identiy obstacles to access and how they could

be removed. The Panel published its nal report,

Unleashing Aspiration,2 in the summer o 2009.

Since then, o course, there has been a change

in government. Nonetheless, social mobility has

remained a core social policy priority, a point

emphasised in the Governments social mobility

strategyOpening Doors, Breaking Barriers: A Strategy

for Social Mobility,3 published last year.

Three years on rom Unleashing Aspiration, equity

o access to proessional careers remains an

important part o the social mobility jigsaw. I job

opportunities are not accessible to all those with

the requisite skills and talent, eorts being made to

improve social mobility will continue to stall. That

is especially important in the short term, given the

unacceptably high levels o youth unemployment

in our country. Social cohesion demands a

reinvigorated drive to ensure that proessional

jobs are as evenly spread as possible across thesocial spectrum.

That is particularly the case, given that proessional

employment has largely withstood the economic

downturn. Graduate-level employment is the

only orm o employment that increased over the

course o the recession.4 In contrast, employment

rates or those holding no qualications saw the

biggest decline o 11.9%. This is also reected

in employment rates or those holding degree-

level qualications, which are almost ve timesas high as employment rates or those holding

no qualications.


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10 Fair Access to Proessional Careers: A progress report

A proessional career is a surer guarantor o

economic security and social progress than it was

even three years ago. This relative strength o

the proessional sector is set to continue. Labourmarket projections up to 2020 predict, along with

gradual recovery in overall employment levels,

continued evolution towards a more knowledge-

based and service-intensive economy.5

With proessional employment set to increase

over the long term, there is hope that many more

young people, regardless o their background, will

be able to get on and move up. In the 1950s, the

growth o proessional employment helped to

unleash an unparalleled wave o social mobility inBritain. Ensuring that todays surge in proessional

employment produces a similar social dividend

depends on removing any barriers to a proessional

career so that those with talent and potential

experience a level playing eld o opportunity.

Unortunately, Unleashing Aspiration ound that,

i anything, the proessions had become more,

not less, socially exclusive over time. Figure 1.1

tells its own story.

The 2009 report predicted that, i these trendscontinue, a typical proessional o the uture will

now be growing up in a amily that is better o

than seven in ten o all amilies in the UK.6 The

consequence will be that social mobility will slow

down not speed up.Unleashing Aspiration identied six key areas or

improvement:

1. Raising aspirations: new opportunities oryoung people to learn about the proessions.

2. Schools: new opportunities to learn andchoose careers.

3. Universities: new opportunities to pursuehigher education.

4. Internships: new opportunities to get onto theproessional career ladder.

5. Recruitment and selection: new opportunitiesor talent to shine.

6. Flexible proessions: new opportunities orcareer progression.

This report is a stocktake o progress on those

themes as they relate directly to the proessions.

Shortly I will publish a separate report on socialmobility and access to higher education, and in the

summer a ull report on trends in child poverty

Figure 1.1: Comparison o the amily income background o typical proessionals7

Teach

ers

Lecture

rsan

d

profe

ssors

Artists,m

usicia

ns

andwrit

ers

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Professions with afalling proportion ofmembers who grewup in families withabove-averageincomes

%

dierencebetweentheaveragefam

ilysincomeandthe

familyincomeofthehouseholdin

whichthetypical

professionalgrew

u

p

Lawy

ers

Docto

rs

Journalis

tsan

d

broadc

aster

s

Accou

ntan

ts

Bank

ers

Engine

ers

Scien

tistsand

othe

r

medicalca

reer

s

Stockbrok

ers

andtrad

ers

Nurse

s

Professions witha rising proportionof members whogrew up in familieswith above-averageincomes

1958 birth cohort 1970 birth cohort


14/89

and social mobility. These three reports will orm

part o a ormal handover to the new Social

Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.

This report restates the case or air access to theproessions and why it matters. It assesses progress

since 2009 against our key criteria:

Raising aspirations: what employers andgovernment are doing to help young people to

learn about and aspire to have a proessional

career

Work experience and internships: whatemployers and government are doing to make

internships transparent and accessible to helppeople to get onto the proessional career ladder

Recruitment and selection: what stepsemployers have taken to ensure their

recruitment and selection processes are

genuinely open to the widest range o talent

Flexible proessions: what measures have beenput in place to provide a wider range o routes

into a proessional career.

It sets out next steps or the proessions, theGovernment and the new Social Mobility and Child

Poverty Commission.

Methodology

My team took evidence rom a wide range o

sources. A list o the organisations consulted

and those which submitted evidence to the call

or evidence (issued in May 2011) is attached as

Annex A.

Desk work

The team reviewed research and statistics, think

tank publications and academic journals in order to

construct an inormed picture o the current state

o play.

Call or evidence

The team issued a call or evidence in May 2011

to around 200 proessional bodies and employers.

Each was invited to send progress updates. More

than 100 responses were submitted.

b-live survey

This survey draws on a study o aspirations,

surveying young people, parents and their

Chapter 1 Introduction 11

teachers, conducted by b-live, a social enterprise,

and analysed by the Education and Employers

Taskorce and Dr Deirdre Hughes.

Evidence hearings

The team held evidence sessions attended

by major employers, proessional bodies and

regulatory bodies.

Bilateral evidence

The review team has met with key stakeholders

in the eld o social mobility and access to the

proessions. In addition, bilaterals have been held

with representatives rom a range o proessionalsectors.

Outline o this report

Chapter 2 sets out the case or why promoting airaccess to the proessions needs to remain a priority

issue or government, employers and wider society.

It also highlights the current employment picture,

employment projection and the overall progress

since 2009 that employers and proessional bodies

have made in promoting air access.

This high-level analysis is ollowed by a more

detailed look at our particular proessional

sectors. For each sector, this includes setting out

what the current workorce looks like; activities

being undertaken by that proession to improve

social mobility; and the remaining challenges, next

steps and recommendations or urther action.

Chapter 3 looks at the progress that has beenmade to improve air access to a proessional

career in the legal proession.


career in the medical proession.


career in journalism and the media proessions.


career in Parliament and the civil service.Chapter 7 sets out the progress made bygovernment through policies designed to improve

access to the proessions.


15/89


16/89

13

Chapter 2

Progress in the professions what has changedsince 2009

This chapter sets out:

Why air access to the proessions mattersThe current employment pictureProgress that employers and proessional bodies have madeWhat more needs to be done

Why social mobility matters

There is an overwhelming moral and nancial case

or continuing eorts to improve social mobility. It

is not air that the circumstances o birth should

go on to dictate the opportunities available or

the rest o an individuals lie. As the April 2011

social mobility strategy1 so clearly sets out, social

cohesion depends on opportunities being more

evenly available across society so that talent and

potential not ate and background determine

peoples ability to progress.

I anything, the case or a bigger drive to galvanise

social mobility has grown since 2009. The global

nancial crisis, the subsequent recession, the

current sluggish state o the British economy and

the process o scal consolidation have all taken

their social toll. Since the publication oUnleashing

Aspiration in July 2009, unemployment has risen by

181,000 and youth unemployment (or those not

in ull-time education) by 261,000.2 Inequalities

social and geographic have widened.3 Poverty,

among children in particular, is likely to have

increased.4

A broad swathe o public and political opinion has

coalesced around a deep social concern about

rising inequality. A new consensus has begun to

emerge that unearned wealth or a ew at the

top, stagnating incomes or those in the middle

and deepening disadvantage or many at the

bottom is not a sustainable social proposition.

People are looking or action so that our society

becomes more open, more mobile and more air.

Government has a key leadership role to play but

it is not a job or government alone. Other socialactors will need to play their part parents and

communities, schools and universities, employers

and proessions.

The proessions have a critical role. They are a key

and growing source o employment opportunities.

As the society which they serve becomes ever

more complex and heterogeneous, the proessions

themselves will need to keep pace by becoming

ever more diverse. In an increasingly competitive

global market, they will need to do more to makethe most o the widest possible pool o talent.

There is both a pressing social and a sel-interested

case or their becoming exemplars or the sort o


17/89


open society that public opinion increasingly craves.

Sadly, all too oten the proessions as a whole

have been behind the social curve. I anything,

the evidence suggests that since 2009, taken asa whole, the proessions despite some pockets

o considerable progress have done too little to

catch up.

The current picture

Who are the proessions?

There is no single denition o the proessions

but or the purposes o this report, we use the

denition set out in Unleashing Aspiration. Typically,

they have some or all o the ollowing traits:

Recognisable entry points or example, withstandard qualication requirements

Codes o ethics or example, that set outaspects o proessional responsibility

Systems or sel-regulation or example,setting and regulating standards or proessional

development

A strong sense o vocation and proessionaldevelopment.

Today, the biggest proessions are in engineering

(5.6 million);5 local government (2.6 million);6

healthcare (1.4 million);7 and nancial and

insurance services (1.1 million).8 However, smaller

proessions, such as accountancy (286,000)9 and

law (around 165,000),10,11 remain high-quality,

high-status, high-reward proessions.

Since 2009, the proessions that have grown in

number the most are IT and telecommunications.Those that have seen the biggest alls in

employment are investment banking and und

management.12

The labour market

Much o the second hal o the 20th century

in the UK was characterised by economic and

industrial change which increased income mobility

and the number o proessional, managerial and

administrative occupations.13 While there were

2.2 million proessional posts and 3.1 millionassociate proessional posts in 1984, these rose

to 3.9 million and 4.9 million respectively in

2009,14 when Unleashing Aspiration was published.

Today there are an estimated total o 12.8 million

proessionals in our country. In total 42% o all

employment in the UK is in the proessions.15

A recent report by University Alliance ound thatduring the global nancial crisis and subsequent

economic recession employment in proessional

occupations continued to grow, while the largest

job losses were in routine manual and non-manual

occupations.16 Occupations with a high proportion

o graduates were less aected by job losses.

According to the Conederation o British Industry

(CBI),17 those working in more highly skilled

occupations tended to are better over the course

o the recession, with employment in these areasincreasing (as did employment in caring, leisure and

other service occupations). Employment in all other

occupations decreased. Graduate-level employment

is the only orm o employment to have increased

over the course o the recession (by 3.6%).

In the short term, o course, some orms o

proessional employment are still eeling the

eects o the economic downturn. Overall, a small

decrease in vacancy levels o 1.2% is predicted

or 2011/12. Nonetheless, some sectors such aslaw and engineering are planning to increase their

recruitment numbers signicantly.

The uture will see continued growth in

proessional employment. The UK Commission

or Employment and Skills ound in its most recent

labour market assessment that there is likely to

be a slow recovery rom recession, with the UK

economy generating around 1.5 million additional

jobs by 2020. Managers, proessionals and associate

proessional roles provide the most signicant

increases. Around 2 million additional jobs in these

occupational categories are projected by 2020.18

This osets projected decreases in a number o

other categories, such as skilled trades occupations.

The shape o the UK workorce is changing.

The share o total employment taken by white-

collar occupations is projected to rise rom

42% to 46% between 2010 and 2020. Figure

2.1 shows employment projections or the nine

major occupations in the period rom 2010 to

2020, comparing them with developments over

the previous decade. A rather aster pace o

change, with accelerated growth in proessional

roles and bigger declines in trade and blue-collar


18/89


Table 2.1: Expected percentage change in vacancies rom 2010/11 to 2011/12 by sector,excluding oil companies and chemical or pharmaceutical companies19

SectorIT/telecommunications company 32.5%

Construction company or consultancy 29.4%

Public sector 27.8%

Energy, water or utility company 16.0%

Engineering or industrial company 10.0%

Fast-moving consumer goods company 6.4%

Insurance company 5.9%

Law rm 5.4%

Banking or nancial services 0.4%

Retail 2.9%

Transport or logistics company 4.9%

Accountancy or proessional services rm 12.9%

Consulting or business services rm 16.0%

Investment bank or und managers 41.7%

occupations, is now expected than was the case

over the previous decade. The proessions will

account or approximately 83% o all new jobs in

Britain in the next decade. They hold the key to

improving social mobility.

This changing labour market provides Britain with

both a major economic and a social opportunity.

I the proessions can genuinely open their doors

to the most talented people, then the UK can

improve its competitive position in the global

economy. I the proessions can broaden the

background o those they employ, then the UK can

speed up social mobility and contribute to greater

social cohesion.

Figure 2.1: Employment changes rom 19902000 to 20102020

All industries1990 to 2000 2000 to 2010

Managers, directors and senior ocials

Professional occupations

Associate professional and technical

Administrative and secretarial

Skilled trades occupations

Caring, leisure and other services

Sales and customer service

Process, plant and machine operatives

Elementary occupations

thousands

2010 to 2020

2,000 0 2,000 2,000 0 2,000 1,000 0 1,000


19/89


The socio-economic make-up o theproessions

There is, however, a long way to go to make a

reality o that opportunity. The latest longitudinal

data21 we have on social mobility and access to

proessional careers is rom the 1970 birth cohort,

as set out in Unleashing Aspiration. It ound that

the overall trend is a growing social exclusivity

in the proessions. In nine o the 12 proessions

examined, there was an increase in people coming

rom better-o amilies between the 1958 and the

1970 birth cohorts.

It is difcult to assess trends in access rates to the

proessions or the most recent generation. Latest

data rom the Higher Education Statistics Agency,22

however, on the socio-economic background

o undergraduates across a range o vocational

degrees shows that:

while 40% o engineering undergraduates wererom the three highest socio-economic classes in

2002/03, this had dropped to 38% by 2010/11

architecture has seen a more signicant dropin the number o undergraduates rom thetop three socio-economic classes, rom 42% in

2002/03 to 36% in 2010/11.

These gures echo the pattern we will see in

Chapters 3, 4 and 5 on the social background

o those entering medicine, the law and the

media. The general picture seems to be o mainly

minor changes in the social composition o the

proessions. At the top especially, the proessions

remain dominated by a social elite. That is neither

benecial or the proessions themselves norconducive to a more mobile society.

A progress update rom the proessions

Unleashing Aspiration made 88 recommendations

about what needed to be done to make access

to and progress through a proessional career

more genuinely meritocratic. Some o those

recommendations were targeted at schools,

universities and government rather than the

proessions themselves. There were, however,

our main areas o activity that were specically

recommended or employers and proessions to

take orward. These were:

raise aspiration, especially in schoolsmake work experience and internships more

transparent and accessible

reorm recruitment and selection proceduresprovide a wider range o routes into a

proessional career.

As preparation or this report, a call or evidence

was issued in the summer o 2011. Employers,

including The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers

and regulatory and proessional bodies, were

asked to provide evidence on what action they

have taken to address the barriers to air access

highlighted in Unleashing Aspiration.

Just over 100 submissions were received rom

a cross-section o employers and proessional

bodies. The legal sector provided the most

responses, with the majority o returns rom

law rms. The nancial services sector (banking

and accountancy) also responded well to the

call or evidence. It is also pleasing to see sectors

engaging with this agenda that were not involved

with the work o the Panel on Fair Access to the

Proessions, such as retail and some o The TimesTop 100 Graduate Employers.

These submissions have been extremely helpul

in providing a snapshot o what is happening

both within and between sectors. A number o

emerging themes have been identied as a result.

The overall sense rom the submissions is o a

galvanised eort on the part o many organisations

and individuals to engage with the air access

agenda. In particular, many young people working

in the proessions seem to be highly motivated toencourage successor generations to aspire to a

proessional career. The range and depth o this

activity is to be commended. There is, however,

a very long way to go. The glass ceiling has been

scratched but not broken.

In the sections below, I examine what the

proessions have been doing in the our areas o

activity identied byUnleashing Aspirationto assess

where they could make the biggest impact in

driving air access.


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Figure 2.2: Number o respondents by sector to call or evidence

25

Retail

Publicsector

Publishing

Scien

ce

Personnel

Medicine

andhealthcare

Media

andjournalism

Managementconsultancy

Law

ITandtelecoms

Insurance

Financeandaccountancy

Engineering

Energy

Consumergoods

Charityandvoluntary

Catering

Arts

Architecture,building

servicesand

construction

Numberofrespondentsbysectortocallforevidence

20

15

10

5

0

Raising aspiration

For the purposes o this report, raising aspiration

is about how young people are encouraged to

aspire towards a proessional career. We know that

aspirations or success are high among the majority

o young people but there seems to be a disparity

between young people rom dierent socio

economic backgrounds in levels o knowledge

and condence about routes into proessional

careers. For example, 56% o children whose

parents are employed in the proessions also wish

to have a proessional career compared with only13% o children whose parents are in semi-skilled

occupations.23 This may reect a dierence in the

extent to which young people have access to good

quality careers advice, be that through amily and

riends or schools and careers services. Preliminary

ndings rom b-live, a social enterprise, which is

conducting a national aspirations survey among

young people, endorse this suggestion.24

While the primary responsibility or careers

advice and general aspiration-raising lies with

parents and schools, they cannot do it on their

own. It is unreasonable to expect them to haveexpert knowledge on every kind o employment

opportunity available. That is why employers have

a role to play in lling in inormation gaps about

what a career in their organisation or sector looks

like and how young people can go about securing

a proessional career.

From the submissions to the call or evidence, it

is clear that many proessions primary ocus is on

outreach activity. Many respondents highlighted the

work they do within their local communities andwith schools. Examples included:

virtual mentoring in schools across the UKsponsoring a specic school that is perorming

badly

asking schools to nominate a small numbero pupils with the potential to gain a place at

a top university or to pursue a career in a

specic proession, and providing support

or those pupils.


21/89


Figure 2.3: Relatives at university versus no relatives at university and interest in applyingto a selective university

35

30

Percentage

ofrespondents 25

20

15

10

5

0

Yes definitely Yes probably Yes possibly No Unsure

Relatives at university (Years 7, 8 and 9) No relatives at university (Years 7, 8 and 9)

Figure 2.4: Free school meals versus non-ree school meals and post-school options

0

10

20

30

40

50

P

ercentage

ofrespondents

Go straight to Gap year then Get an Get a job Dont know

university university apprenticeship

Free school meals (Years 10 and 11) Non-free school meals (Years 10 and 11)


22/89

Case Study: J.P. Morgan ChaseFoundation and Social Mobility

FoundationJ.P. Morgan is working with the Social

Mobility Foundation to introduce a

residential banking/nance pilot to the

charitys established Aspiring Proessionals

Programme (APP). The pilot will ocus

on 50 high-achieving young people rom

under-represented backgrounds rom

across the country, who will be taking

part in the rst year o APP and have an

interest in banking/nance.As part o the pilot, the students will be

encouraged to enter the universities

rms rom which J.P. Morgan recruits and

provided with the necessary skills to make

competitive applications or internships/

jobs with prestigious nancial services rms

through:

e-mentoring with a mentor romJ.P. Morgan

tailored visits to Russell Groupuniversities

university and skills workshopstwo-week residential work placements

at J.P. Morgan in London, comprising

structured work experience to give

the young people a real insight into the

career they aspire to join, and a range

o university/skills training workshops

and social/networking activities in theevenings

personal statement checking support,guidance on aptitude tests and

interviews.

Crucially, the participants will continue to

be supported through their A-levels and

university with the aim o giving them the

right blend o skills and experience to be

able to work or rms such as J.P. Morgan

when they graduate.


The amount and variety o activity being

undertaken is striking. There is clearly a lot o

eort that has been invested in supporting and

working with young people. There were, however,examples where dierent proessions are working

in the same part o the country targeting the

same schools. That can lead to some schools being

overloaded while others are ignored. It also runs

the risk o duplication o eort and resources,

particularly or schools in close proximity to the

City. The Law Society, in its response to the call

or evidence, said the prolieration o initiatives

designed to address some o the barriers to air

access have created conusion.

It is important that such activity is delivered in

a co-ordinated, sustainable way so that schools

and employers can manage their resources more

eectively to allow as many young people as

possible to benet rom such programmes

and initiatives.

PRIME, the new legal sector initiative that oers

good-quality work experience opportunities, is an

excellent example o a sector-wide collaboration.

Case Study: PRIME

PRIME is a commitment by the legal

proession to provide air access to quality

work experience or young people rom

less privileged backgrounds. Supported by

the Law Societies o England and Wales,

Northern Ireland and Scotland, and The

Sutton Trust, PRIME sets out, or the

rst time, minimum standards or whom

work experience should reach and what it

should achieve. It commits member rms

to providing work experience that gives an

insight into the range o careers available

in the legal proession and the potential

routes into those careers.

A group o 23 o the UKs largest law

rms launched PRIME in September 2011

and over 75 have now signed up across

the UK, 41 o which have ofces outside

London. Ensuring that rms meet their

commitments under the initiative is crucial

and its members are monitored and will

be evaluated annually by the National

Federation or Educational Research.


23/89


It is important that schemes such as PRIME are not

just London-centric but are accessible to young

people across the country. The PRIME model may

also be something or other sectors to consideradopting or adapting in order to reduce duplication

o work experience programmes and help to

ensure that all schools, rather than a ew, are able

to benet.

Clearly, many outreach initiatives, particularly those

ocusing on Years 9, 10 and 11, will take some

time to have an impact, especially i the purpose

o outreach work is to change the workorce

demographic. Tracking and monitoring o young

people rom school and sixth orm colleges touniversity and beyond is a long-term commitment

that is not without its challenges. In conversations

with research organisations, it is clear that there

is a lack o robust evidence about what works in

terms o employer outreach activity. Lessons could

be learnt rom the experience o universities. For

example, the evaluation o Aimhigher25 provides

some evidence o the types o outreach that have

the greatest transormative impact. Unortunately,

most outreach initiatives do not have an evaluation

ramework in place. This is something that shouldbe addressed.

Work experience and internships

Employers can oer a range o schemes that

oer individuals a chance to build the experience

and knowledge needed to secure a proessional

position or that employer or sector. For example:

work experience: usually short-term andexible, typically oered to 1618 year olds to

give them a taster o working in a particular

sector

internship: usually three to six-month positions,typically oered to undergraduates, graduates

and non-graduates

sandwich placement, ormally part o a universitysandwich course: usually a one-year ull-time

position, undertaken in the second year o a

our-year course, related to the course subject

summer placement: usually undertaken byundergraduates during university summer

holidays, to give them both a taster o a

particular organisation and a chance to showcasetheir potential or a permanent role.

Work experience and internships are usually

organised between employers and individuals,

whereas sandwich and summer placements

tend to be organised between employers and

universities, and oten contribute ormal credits

towards university courses.

Internships and work experience more generally

are part and parcel o a modern economy, and

increasingly they have become the rst rung onthe ladder to proessional employment. They are

an important part o the recruitment process,

giving individuals a taster o what working in

an organisation is like, helping them to build up

experience and skills and giving them a chance

to showcase their potential to employers.

Employability skills are a top priority or business.

The most recent Education and Skills Survey

conducted by the CBI ound that, or the third

year in a row, employability skills were rated themost important by graduate recruiters. Four in ve

(82%) value these skills, which include the ability

to problem solve, work as part o a team and

manage time eectively. Employers also reported

that they were on the lookout or graduates in

certain subject disciplines and 50% take applicants

degree results into consideration. Having relevant

work experience is also ranked very highly by

employers and is a key actor or two-thirds o

those surveyed.26


24/89


Figure 2.5: Most important actors considered when recruiting graduates

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Employability skills Relevant work Degree subject Degree result University attended

experience/industrial

placement

2008 2011

The Wilson Review27 also sets out a strong case or

the importance o work experience, placements

and internships, saying lack o work experienceappears as a key barrier to young people, including

graduates, in securing employment. It ound that

all three types o work experience are extremely

valuable to students.28 The Wol Review29

highlighted that recruitment is an extremely

expensive process, and thereore employers were

looking or strong signs that new employees had

the potential to add value and progress within their

business. Wol ound that employers saw work

experience as the most important signal or

this potential.

The evidence suggests that having work

experience or an internship on a CV is even more

critical now to nding employment ater graduating

rom university than it was even three years ago.30

At least hal the entry-level vacancies advertised

by City investment banks and the leading law rms

are likely to be lled by graduates who have already

completed work experience with the employer.

The Association o Graduate Recruiters31 also

ound that an estimated 36% o this yearsgraduate vacancies will be lled by applicants

who have already worked or the employer as an

undergraduate and in some sectors the proportion

increases to 50% or more. Furthermore, more

than hal o graduate recruiters said it was

either not very likely or not at all likely thata graduate who had had no previous work

experience either with their organisation or at

another employer would be successul during

their selection process and receive a job oer.

Many recruiters commented that, irrespective

o the academic results that a graduate had

achieved, it would be very hard or an applicant

to demonstrate the skills and competencies that

they were looking or i they had not had any prior

work experience.

Almost all o the UKs leading graduate employers

provide work experience programmes or

students and recent graduates, oten through

university sandwich courses or summer

placements. The largest numbers o placements

are at the investment banks, which or 2011/12

had more than 2,700 internships and other

experiences available. Investment banking is

one o just three sectors where the number o

placements on oer rom employers outstrips or

matches the number o permanent jobs availableto graduates.32 Despite the strong evidence that a

sandwich placement year improves employability

opportunities,33 there has been a decline in this


25/89


practice in recent years. In 2002/03, 9.5% o

the total ull-time student cohort undertook a

placement. But by 2009/10, this had allen to only

7.2%.34

A small number o universities provide themajority o sandwich placements, including the

Universities o Aston, Bath, Bournemouth, Brunel,

Loughborough and Surrey.35

From this we can see that, although work

experience is becoming increasingly important to a

wide range o employers, opportunities or young

people in the university placement sector to gain

it are reducing. This report endorses Proessor

Tim Wilsons recommendation that every ull-

time undergraduate student should have theopportunity to experience a structured, university-

approved undergraduate internship during their

period o study.

Internships are becoming a core oundation

o the modern labour market in proessional

employment. The Chartered Institute o Personnel

and Development (CIPD) estimates that three-

quarters o the employers it surveys regularly

employ interns.36 This is the equivalent o 280,000

organisations across the UK; an increase romsummer 2009 when just 13% o employers

surveyed by CIPD planned to take on interns.37

There has been great concern expressed about

the act that many internships are unpaid. An

evaluation38 o the Graduate Talent Pool, a

government-unded internship website, in 2011

ound that there was considerable disparity

between those sectors that oered a majority

o paid internships and those which did not. For

example, only 37% o cultural and creative, 44%

o media-related, 58% o nancial and proessional

services and 65% o marketing, advertising and

public relations internships were paid. Other

sectors oered a majority o paid opportunities,

including manuacturing and engineering (85%),

the built environment (78%) and government and

public administration (98%).

Following new quality assurance processes being

introduced in October 2011, each vacancy is now

checked to ensure it oers a genuine opportunity,

with concerns about unpaid internships and

the National Minimum Wage taken up with the

employer. Since its launch, the website has carried

approximately 44,000 vacancies, around 60% o

which were paid. Since the new quality assurance

process began, the number o unpaid internships

has declined signicantly. For example, o the 2,058

vacancies advertised on the site in February 2012,only 2% were unpaid vacancies oered by business

(a urther 27% were unpaid voluntary work

placements with charities, which are exempt rom

National Minimum Wage legislation).

A 2011 CBI survey39 also ound that more

employers oering internship opportunities

were willing to pay their interns. Some 89%

o employers said they paid their interns at or

above the appropriate minimum wage. Just 13%

o those oering internships paid expenses-onlyand none said that they paid below the National

Minimum Wage. During our deliberations and

in the responses we received to our call or

evidence, however, we came across ew examples

o internships that were well remunerated. LOral

was a rare example to the contrary. It recruits

more than 80 interns a year through its website

and pays them 18,000 pro rata. LOral is also

planning to reserve up to ve internships or

students rom disadvantaged backgrounds.

Some have argued that young people could be

making a sound investment i they take up a high-

quality but unpaid internship, since it increases

their prospects o nding paid employment.

Internocracy, a social enterprise, disagrees.

It argues that unpaid internships lter out swathes

o young people rom the rst step o the career

ladder particularly in the most inuential sectors

such as media and politics and oer a ast track

to a chosen ew.40 Similarly, a report produced

under the auspices o the Creative IndustriesCouncil in January 2012 argued that it is not

sustainable or creative businesses to be based

around exploitative labour practices such as interns

working unpaid or signicant periods o time.41

This report echoes those concerns. Unpaid

internships and inormal riends and amily

schemes are still ar too prevalent across

the proessions. Inormal work experience

opportunities are difcult, i not impossible, to

gain unless young people have amily contacts tohelp them to gain access to an employer. Unpaid

internships clearly disadvantage those rom less

auent backgrounds who cannot aord to work


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or ree or any length o time. They are a barrier

to air access and, indeed, to better social mobility.

The evidence that we have collected despite

some examples to the contrary, such as theemployers that have signed up to the Social

Mobility Business Compact continues to point

in the direction o connection rather than ability

being the key that unlocks a work experience

opportunity or an internship. It is bad or business

to restrict the pool o potential applicants to

those with a personal connection or those who

can aord to accept unpaid work. It reduces the

talent that is available. Furthermore, reserving

opportunities or the relatives o employees orclients, when having work experience on a CV is

critical to securing a job, will inevitably contribute

to a narrowing o air access to proessional careers

or those without connections.

The explosion in internships in the proessions

adds up to a proound change in the British

labour market. Access to work experience is

a new hurdle that would-be proessionals now

have to clear beore they can even get onto the

recruitment playing eld. Given their centralityto young peoples career prospects, internships

should no longer be treated as part o the inormal

economy. They should be subject to similar rules

as other parts o the labour market. That means

introducing proper, transparent and air processes

or selection and reasonable terms o employment,

including remuneration or internships.

A Common Best Practice Code for High-Quality

Internships42 was published in the summer o 2011

by leading proessionals, with the support o the

TUC and the Department or Business, Innovation

and Skills, whose Proessions Collaborative Forum

organised the development o the Code. It sends

out a clear signal to employers that they should be

providing air and high-quality internships. It should

be adopted by employers across the proessions.

The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission

should assess whether they are doing so.

Recruitment and selection processes

How employers go about recruiting and selecting

their employees helps to determine the sort o

people they employ. Ideally, those processes shouldbe neutral and should produce outcomes that

match business need with candidates capability.

This does not always happen. All too oten the way

the proessions go about recruiting and selecting

reinorces rather than recongures the socio

economic make-up o their workorces. Recruiters

end up selecting new people that are pretty much

like the old. Unless airness is more intentionally

embedded into recruitment and selection

procedures, then it is unlikely that there will beanything other than a supercial shit in the social

composition o the proessions. There are several

elements to consider.

Which universities employers recruit rom

A university degree is the key to a proessional

career. Most proessionals are graduates. Over

time this has become increasingly the case.

Unleashing Aspiration raised concerns that too

many proessional employers targeted only a small

number o universities as part o their recruitmentrounds. It ound that around 70% o graduate

recruiters targeted ewer than 20 university

campuses,43 meaning that large numbers o able

graduates were missing out on learning about

graduate-level vacancies.

Three years on, the Association o Graduate

Recruiters has ound that this practice is still

prevalent among employers. Just over one-third

targeted between one and ten UK universities in

2010/11.44 Although it is encouraging to see that aurther 27% were expanding their recruitment to

include more than 20 universities, recent research

on the 2011/12 graduate market shows that the

UKs leading employers target an average o only

19 universities (see Figure 2.6).45 Many proessional

employers are continuing to market to and recruit

rom a small number o the most highly selective

universities, rather than promote their organisation

and available employment opportunities to a

broader mix o institutions.


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Figure 2.6: Number o universities targeted by top employers in 2011/12

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

5 or fewer 610 1115 1620 2125 2630 3140 More than

universities universities universities universities universities universities universities 40 universities

The ve universities most oten targeted by

Britains top graduate employers in 2011/12 were

Cambridge, London (including Imperial College,

University College London and the London School

o Economics), Manchester, Nottingham and

Oxord.

These universities are among the most highly

selective in the country but they also have some

o the lowest proportions o students rom

disadvantaged backgrounds, as can be seen in

Figure 2.7.46

The overwhelming evidence suggests that too

many proessional employers still recruit romtoo small a cohort o universities. Since those

universities are the most socially exclusive in

the country, these recruitment practices merely

reinorce the social exclusivity o the proessions.

The slow progress that has been made in the

last ew years to broaden the universities rom

which the proessions recruit needs to be rapidly

accelerated i the big growth in proessional

employment predicted over the next decade is to

produce a social mobility dividend or Britain.

Where employers recruit

In 2009, Unleashing Aspiration highlighted the

uneven distribution o proessional vacancies acrossthe UK, with the majority in London or the South

East.47 Recent evidence48 has done nothing to allay

this concern, as can be seen in Figure 2.8.

The overwhelming majority o The Times Top

100 Graduate Employers were oering vacancies

in London or 2012 and hal plan to hire new

recruits or positions in the South East. The North

West, the Midlands and the South West had the

next highest numbers o employers recruiting

graduates, ollowed by Yorkshire and the NorthEast. O all the English regions, East Anglia was the

least likely to yield graduate vacancies only 41%

o employers had opportunities there in 2011.49

Recent orecasts50 show that the southern part o

England is expected to see more rapid employment

growth than the devolved nations and the northern

regions o England. Almost hal o the growth in

jobs in higher-level occupations will occur in London,

the South East and the East o England.


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Figure 2.7: Participation o under-represented groups in higher education*

University of Oxford

University of Cambridge

Imperial College

University College London

London School of Economics

University of Nottingham

University of Manchester

Sector average in England

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

% from state schools or colleges % from NS-SEC 4-7

% from low participation neighbourhoods

*Young full-time undergraduate entrants

Figure 2.8: Location o graduate vacancies at leading UK employers in 2012

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

London North West Midlands South East Yorkshire North East East Anglia


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Taking these predictions into account, it seems

that regional disparities in access to a proessional

career are growing and are set to go on doing

so. I employers are genuinely concerned aboutbroadening the background o their workorces,

they will need to show ar greater intentionality

in broadening the parts o the UK rom which

they recruit.

How employers select

Getting selection processes right means that doors

are opened to a wider pool o talent. Unleashing

Aspiration made clear that it is or individual

employers to decide on the selection processes

that work best or them but that some processes

risk obstructing equity o access, such as:

opacity in recruitment processes, or examplenot providing sample online tests i using

assessment centres or setting out what is

expected o applicants

over-reliance on academic qualications ratherthan recognising wider achievements

the plethora o organisations that charge to helppeople through selection processes, which candisadvantage those who cannot aord the ees

or those who are unaware that such tools exist.

Selection processes vary considerably in how

applicants are assessed and appointed. Some

employers may use selection criteria that can

inadvertently avour some applicants over others.

Others prioritise those with a amily connection.

For example, a number o rms give nancial

incentives to employees to reer people they know

to the recruitment process.

Contributors to the call or evidence provided

a range o examples o what they are doing to

ensure they advertise or and recruit as diverse a

range o employees as possible. Examples included:

interviewing candidates in less ormal,less intimidating surroundings

using dierent channels or advertising vacancies,including social media

appointing diversity managers

using school-blind or university-blind applicationorms

training or sta in human resources to be awareo subconscious bias.

These approaches are more conducive to a air

selection process and are ar more likely to deliver

a more balanced intake o proessionals. From

the evidence submitted or this report, it seems

that, sadly, these initiatives although gathering

pace are still not the norm across proessional

employers. It is time they were.

Collecting workorce socio-economic data

The collection and publication o data on gender

and race have helped to bring about signicant

change in employers behaviours. Shining a spotlight

on who works where has also helped to bring

about a more diverse workorce. In Unleashing

Aspiration, it was recommended that employers

consider collecting data on the socio-economic

prole o their employees to ensure they had a

ully rounded picture o their workorces. Such

data collection would also allow employers to

evaluate the impact o their activity on improvingthe diversity o their workorces and ensure that

resources are being used in the most eective way.

It has been argued that collecting socio-economic

data is a bureaucratic burden and involves

unwarranted and unwanted intrusion into

employees backgrounds. When data rst started

to be collected about gender and ethnicity, it was

an equally contentious issue and was opposed

on the same grounds. Over time, however, it has

become the norm and has become viewed as abenet to employers determined to change the

prole o their workorces in order to make them

more socially representative.

The call or evidence threw up some pockets o

good practice when it comes to data collection

across the proessions. For example, a number o

rms have recently introduced additional questions

into their online diversity monitoring orms. These

will allow employers to gather data and map

progress. But they were very much the exception,

not the rule. That is disappointing.


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Case Study: Tate

To open up access to careers in the arts

sector, Tate is hosting 20 paid traineeshipsin its Collection Care division between

October 2011 and November 2014.

This initiative is unded by the Heritage

Lottery Funds Skills or the Future

programme, a national scheme that

aims to improve workorce diversity and

address skills shortages. Each placement

lasts or 18 months, is based primarily at

Tates London sites and is paid at London

Living Wage level, as are all Tates London-

based interns. Trainees undertake a

broad range o

fair access to professional careers

Documents